Growing concern for the Ms Starters

[BWahlberg]

The recent home stand going 5-2 has masked some concerns I'm starting to grow worried about. The starters don't look that sharp.

Moyer is Moyer, a high 3/low 4 era he's not going to change.

Washburn did not pitch well in his win this week, very inaccurate and gave up 2 deep shots. There seemed times that he simply could not throw a strike, even in a 3-0 count and the batter was resting the bat on his shoulder. I recall his statements about losing accuracy in the early season.

Hernandez does not look like the same guy from last year a 5.84 era, and boy can he give up the long ball! His last game was a win but I recall seeing on TV that there was a point Pinero was talking him down after a frustrating inning. I know Felix is young but he's getting knocked around this year, so far.

Meche remains the enigma that he is, he had another great outing today but the Ms bats went dead (against a bad pitcher to add) he's got the speed and the location, but he seems to fizzle out. Today he had 10 ks, not bad. He seems to be turning into the Ryan Franklin of the team, not a bad era but no run support.

Pinero is up and down, theres times I think he'll become a superstar and then theres times I think he's just another average starter. Joel is "par for the course" this year, although he does lead the team in HRs @ 10 and his era at 5.15 isn't that great.

I fear the sudden boost of hitting and scoring has masked that this pitching staff consistentley needs VERY good run support, hopefully as the season goes on some of these guys will get a little more consistent.

Any AAA guys that we could be seeing soon? Nageotte or Livingston back?

On a side note too I really like the potential in Sean Green, the other night he filled in well, he's got a great sinker!

 

[GrizBiz]

Yep. A lot of folks that I read regularly have been quietly predicting that this would happen - the bats would heat up but the pitching would decline.

Piniero is the same pitcher he has always been - minus about 5 or 6mph on his fastball. He could get away with the slop that he throws when his fastball was sitting at 94-95 but there's only one way for a right haded pitcher to survive with a fastball tops out at 88-89 and that's pitch like Greg Maddox. When Joel has his control and command of his pitches he can be effective. When he doesn't, he starts throwing a lot of balls that are either six inches outside or centered. Joel is toast.

Meche is interesting. He's got some believers in the Mariner blogosphere but I'm not there yet. I think that he is weak between the ears and no "Japanes pitching sequences" or coaching from Chaves can fix that.

Felix, I give a pass to in some respects. This is literally the first stretch of adversity that he's ever faced. He's literally never been challenged. He's always been better than the hitters that he was facing but he's int he bigs now. The M's handled him perfectly last year - they waited until he was ona roll in AAA and brought him up at the end of the year. Nobody had a book on him and he took some teams by surprise. Now, they've booked him and it'll be up to him to respond. The DOV blogger has been saying for a month now that batters are sitting on his fastball and not even swinging at his curve and change. I watched his last two starts and I have to agree. Nobody can hit his curve and the change is just as filthy. His fastball is probably his worst pitch, so that's what the batters are waiting for. I'd like to see him come out with a Barry Zito approach for a few games - throw 40% curves, 30% changeups and 30% fastballs.

He'll adjust - he's just got too much talent not to. I think that this will actually be good for him in the long run. You don't hear many people calling him King Felix anymore and a little humble pie might do him some good in the long run. Maybe next year he might actually show up to spring training in shape.

AAA starters? Ooof. Livingston and Nageotte could make the jump if they had to but both could really use a full year in Tacoma. The guy that's really opening some eyes is Francisco Cruceta. That dude is filthy - too filthy, really. His pitches move so much that he has had trouble throwing strikes in the past. This year, though, he has put it together in Tacoma. He's got 57K's in 42 innings pitched, which is nasty. He's walked 26 batters, which isn't good but tolerable. He's only given up one HR (!), so the damage that has been done by all the walks hasn't been that bad. If they had to call someone up for a start right now, I think it would probably be Cruceta. I don't envy the catcher that has to try and corral his pitches, though. Word is three or four pitches per game are getting away from the AAA catcher Rob Johnson (from Butte!) and he is a guy that is known for his defense.